What goes up must come down.

Publisher's Description:

What goes up must come down.  So better look before you leap.

It's a balloon race straight up through the clouds.  Score a few points by jumping out onto cloud one or two.  Or risk it all for the chance to reach Cloud Nine.  You'll need nerves of Nirvana in this rarefied atmosphere of strategy and fun.

Box info:

Designer : Aaron Weissblum

Artwork : Albert Lemant

Published : 1999

Publisher: FX Schmid/USA

Players : 2 to 6

Ages : 10+

Playing Time : 30-45 mins

Trev says:

This is one of two games released as the first offerings from FX Schmid's new American subsidiary, although the author's name still sounds somewhat German.  It is quite a fun little 30 minute game on the lines of Can't Stop or Pass the Pigs where you keep gambling with your current score in order to get more.  Each player places their pawn on the balloon and a balloon marker is placed onto the first cloud shown on the board.  The active player rolls two dice which each show a single colour or a blank and is then required to play coloured cards matching this roll.  Before this, however, the other players each decide whether to get off the balloon and claim a single point or stay on in the hope of getting more points for a higher cloud.  If the active player plays the required cards, the balloon moves up to the next cloud, which is worth more points, along with all the players who stayed aboard - and to a chorus of curses from those who jumped off.  If the active player was unable to play the cards, however, the balloon descends to the ground and any players still on it gain no points for that flight.  A new flight then starts - and this continues until one player has scored 45 or more.  Large gains can be made as the top cloud (cloud nine!) is worth 25 points to anyone still on the balloon, but more usually six or nine points are gained for a flight.  There are a couple of  special cards to increase the uncertainty and the opportunities for stuffing someone else - the active player is never allowed to jump from the balloon - but that is basically it.  A nice game that will come out now and again and with better production values than you would expect from America, but not quite up to German standards.

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